


Secret Santa (But Not The Exchange Type)

by osterac1999



Series: Realizations [4]
Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: (except it's 3+1), 5+1 Things, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, JAKE AND JENNA ARE JUST FRIENDS, Secret Relationship, Sleepovers, it should be obvious who that second tag is about now, jenna and jake are trying to solve a Mystery, michael and jer are there briefly, people fall several times, they are both so dumb, this just in: friends can hold hands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 20:30:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13131585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/osterac1999/pseuds/osterac1999
Summary: As Jake walked into the cafeteria, he couldn’t help but feel that something was…off.He surveyed everything, keeping a careful eye on his usual table. Honestly, he couldn’t care less about anyone else when heknewthe problem was with his friends-Okay. That was a bit harsh.What hemeant, was that his friends were the ones acting off. Or maybe just a few of them. He couldn’t tell anymore. This weird feeling pervadingeverythingwas beginning to mess with him, too. It felt like something heavy was hanging over them.He didn’t like it.





	Secret Santa (But Not The Exchange Type)

**Author's Note:**

> TITLE COURTESY OF ELI BECAUSE I'M SO BAD AT THEM!! this is a christmas gift kinda?? it's a Kill Fic for jamie and moogs. I want them dead and jenna and jake are the main ways of doing it tbh. I do it out of love don't worry. 
> 
> ENJOY MY SHORT 5+1-ESQUE FIC!! 
> 
> (also this DOES take place in the realizations universe.)

As Jake walked into the cafeteria, he couldn’t help but feel that something was… _off._ He surveyed everything, keeping a careful eye on his usual table. Honestly, he couldn’t care less about anyone else when he _knew_ the problem was with his friends-

Okay. That was a bit harsh. 

What he _meant_ , was that his friends were the ones acting off. Or maybe just a few of them. He couldn’t tell anymore. This weird feeling pervading _everything_ was beginning to mess with him, too. It felt like something heavy was hanging over them.

He didn’t like it.

It also didn’t help that everyone seemed to be so secretive lately. Well, besides Jenna. She was as open to them as usual. He couldn’t help but notice that the _most_ secretive of the bunch were Jeremy and Michael. They seemed constantly on edge and, despite never being two feet away from each other, they looked like they wanted to distance themselves, but could never manage it. It was almost kind of sweet that they refused to leave each other’s sides.

He was pretty sure it started after spring break, but he couldn’t be sure. He wasn’t _exactly_ the greatest at noticing things. He remembered the time it took him almost two weeks to realize Rich had gotten a red streak in his hair. Which, honestly, was a bit concerning, _especially_ since he spent most of his free time _with_ him.

As he finally walked up to the table, he noticed that the only two there were Jeremy and Michael, who immediately sprung away from each other once he hit their periphery. He frowned slightly and took his seat, purposefully glancing away from the two.

Yeah, they were definitely the ones with the weird vibe. 

He tried to distract himself with _something_ as he waited for everyone else to show up, but the minutes seemed to drag on and on. He felt his patience slipping away by the second. He knew that any moment he would say something stupid to them or snap at them because, honestly, they were killing his good vibe with their secretiveness. _What_ they even have to hide anyways?

He would’ve asked them that, too, if Jenna hadn’t walked up to the table and grabbed his arm. He allowed himself to be dragged up and away from them, ignoring the slightly curious but also relieved looks on their faces.

“What’s your problem?” She asked after they were back in the hallway. She leaned up against the wall and stared up at him. He couldn’t tell if she was angry or not.

“Nothing.” He replied curtly, crossing his arms over his chest. At her unamused expression, he sighed. “Seriously, there’s nothing up with me.”

“You know, I’d believe that, _if_ you weren’t glaring a hole into both of their heads a few minutes ago. What, did they kill your _vibe_?” She asked. He didn’t know whether he was supposed to respond or not.

“Well, I- _no_.” He said quickly, turning away. It was kind of embarrassing to have someone actually say it out loud.

“Jake, honey, no. Please don’t tell me that that was exactly what you were thinking.” When he refused to look at her, she laughed. 

“It’s really not all that funny.” He muttered as he scuffed his shoe on the ground.

“Uh, yeah, it is. You are _the_ single most ridiculous person I know.” At his sour look, she lightly punched his shoulder. “In a good way! If you were boring, we couldn’t be friends. Besides, who would I get all the sport drama from? A gossip needs her sources.”

He glanced up and gave her a mock-offended expression. “Is that all I am to you? Fuel for your gossip?”

“Yes.” She deadpanned. After a moment, they both broke. “Okay, no, for real, I love you and you aren’t just a spoke in the gossip wheel.” She knocked against his shoulder again and gestured toward the door to the cafeteria. “Now, are you ready to rejoin the tense boys or do you need a moment to collect your sanity?”

He shot her an easy smile. “I’m good. I just… needed the wakeup call I guess?” He glanced toward the door. Yeah, he definitely needed it. Like, he _definitely_ didn’t like the weird vibe, but he really needed to… ignore it. For now, at least.

She hummed. “Yeah, you did. Luckily, you have the one person in the group who has no qualms telling you like it is on your side.” She then gestured toward the door again. “After you.”

They shared one last look before he walked back into the room. He wasn’t _too_ sure on this, but he was about ninety-five percent sure Jenna didn’t know what was going on exactly either. He felt a strange sort of camaraderie with her.

Maybe she’d be interested in solving this little mystery together.

 

 

In Jake’s own, not-so-professional opinion, play rehearsal should’ve been _at least_ a little more… focused. Obviously, Christine had focus in the bag when it came to rehearsal. What was messing up this specific rehearsal was the disappearance of lead boy, Jeremy, and tech genius, Michael. They had disappeared about fifteen minutes ago and, with opening night looming so close, their absence wasn’t the most appreciated thing. He could practically hear Mr. Reyes’ grinding teeth and Christine’s anxious bouncing.

After another few minutes of tense silence, he stood up from his seat and stretched. “Well,” he started, making his way toward the exit slowly. “I’m gonna go find them.” 

Just as he reached the doors, he heard Jenna shout, “Wait! I’m coming with you.”

He paused for a moment while she caught up and smiled. “Is play rehearsal _that_ boring?”

“Chris is always interesting, but Mr. Reyes’ anger-induced teeth grinding? Not as much.” She pushed open the door and held it out for him. “Now, let’s go find those dumb fucks.”

He laughed a bit at that as they made their way down the hallway. They tried to brainstorm a few places that the two would hang out, but they didn’t really know anywhere that would catch their interest.

“Well,” Jenna mused, tapping her lip. “We could always try places backstage. I doubt they would go far and, like, no classrooms are open.” Before he could even respond, she began to make her way backstage.

“I would say great idea, but I feel like that would only inflate your ego more.” He grinned at the sharp laugh he got in response. “Do we start with the green room or the workshop?” 

She raised an eyebrow and moved down to the door of the workshop. “We start with the unlikeliest place and move to the likeliest. Knowing those two, they’ll prove us wrong if we assume they’d go to the comfiest place.” 

“Well, the workshop _does_ have that old couch, so they wouldn’t be completely uncomfortable.” He replied, following closely behind her. They’d solve this little mystery in no time. “You know, we’re kind of a little detective duo when it comes to these two.”

She snorted. “How so?”

“I mean, we’re always figuring out shit that’s happening with them. Like, we haven’t said it out loud or anything, but I know we’re both trying to figure out what’s up with those two.” He explained, jumping in front of her. She stopped and raised her eyebrow even higher than before. “Detective duo! C’mon, you know it’s a cool concept.”

She rolled her eyes and patted his cheek. “Sure, honey.” With a sharp turn of her heel, she faced the door again. She tried the door and found that it was locked. She jiggled the handle a few times before turning back to Jake. “Well, I think we know where they are.”

The gleam in her eye sent off alarm bells in Jake’s head. He _really_ didn't want to know what that meant. “Uh, well, let’s go in!” 

Of course, he managed to forget that the door was locked. He grabbed the knob, twisted it, and- even though it wouldn't budge- still tried to step into the workshop. 

_”Jake!”_ Jenna scolded after he thudded into the door. “You already knew it was locked, dumbass. Where's the fire?”

He blinked down at her. “I just- it wasn't-” He groaned and placed his head in his hands. “I didn't like that look in your eye and I panicked.”

“You panicked.”

“Yes! Don't repeat it and make me sound like an idiot.” He _didn't_ like the implications behind it sue him! He glanced down at the door again. “Who has a key?” His eyes widened as she pulled out a key ring. “Mr. Reyes gave you them?”

She let out a short laugh. “ _What?_ No. He wouldn't trust me with piece of garbage. I stole this.” She smirked as she unlocked the door.

“Okay, then.” He stepped in after her and they made their way through the shop. He was about to call out when she shushed him. 

“Don't say anything.” 

He frowned. “They would've heard me body checking the door.”

Jenna swore under her breath. “Shit, you're right.” She huffed and crossed her arms.

“What… what were you hoping to find?” He asked tentatively. Was she seriously considering the detective idea?

She flushed and averted her eyes. “Well, I was- _maybe_ \- considering trying to figure out-” He started grinning and she frantically tried to cover up half his face. “I said _maybe_! Don't grin at me!” She whispered harshly.

“No, no! This is awesome! The _great_ Jenna Rolan is seriously considering one of my _ridiculous_ ideas. Where's the camera to commemorate this?” He asked, looking around for a camera or something slightly rectangular shaped.

“I hate you.” She deadpanned.

He laughed and began to walk again. “No, you don't. You _love_ me and my ideas.”

“Please don't speak to me. I don't know you.” 

They looked through all the doors they came across (re: maybe two, Jake wasn't sure) until they hit the absolute last room. They glanced between the door and each other. Neither of them dared to speak lest they scare off the two missing boys (who they were _positive_ were hiding out in that room). Through some- frankly- convoluted gesturing, they appeared to agree on opening the door on three.

Jake grabbed the doorknob and gripped it tightly, waiting for Jenna’s signal. She made a gesture not unlike a baby bird plummeting from its nest, which he took to be the Signal. He sharply turned the knob and burst through the door, letting out a sharp cry, which Jenna copied.

What happened when they entered the room wasn't what he expected.

First, Jenna tripped over Jake, who was frozen in the doorway. She crashed into a pile of buckets with a painful sounding thud. Which would've been hilarious in its own right if his focus wasn't on something else.

Second, Michael forcefully shoved Jeremy away from him. Jeremy, who definitely hadn't expected this, pinwheeled his arms for about two seconds before he was sent over the back of the couch. He crashed to the floor, in the same pile of buckets as Jenna, with a- somehow- even more painful sounding thud.

Third, Michael stood up suddenly and shoved his way past Jake. After a few moments of stunned silence from everyone, he walked back into the room. With a blank face, he gently helped Jeremy up from the floor, dusted him off, and led him from the room. He could hear frantic whispering between the two, perhaps an apology or two from Michael, as they made their way out of the workshop.

“Well,” Jake began, moving to help Jenna up, “that was fun.” He offered a hand to her, which she swatted away.

She groaned and grabbed the back of the couch to help herself up. “Jake, shut the fuck up.” She scrambled upward, completely ignoring his hand. Once she was back on her feet, she stretched a bit. “Okay-”

“Do you fall like that on the regular?” He interrupted. He was genuinely curious.

She blinked. “What?”

“I mean, you recovered pretty fast, not gonna lie.” He explained.

“I'm not even gonna dignify that with a response. What I was _going_ to say was that… maybe… you're detective idea had a bit of merit to it.” She said, getting quieter as she went on.

He couldn't believe this. “Are you serious?” He could tell he had a huge grin on his face. 

She shoved him playfully and sighed. “Please don't look at me like that. Save that for your future spouse.” She turned away. “But, yes, I'm serious.”

“Fuck yeah!” He yelled, pumping his fist. “Okay, so, we need a cool duo name-”

“No.” She interrupted.

How could she deny a cool name? “C’mon, Jen-”

“No stupid name. This idea is dumb enough to cover it.”

“But you agreed to it.” He pointed out.

She was turned away, but he could swear she had a fond smile on her face. “Yeah, I did.”

With Jenna on board, whom he knew he could trust with any and all information collection and keeping, there was no way they wouldn't solve this little mystery their friend group had going on. 

 

 

Another brilliant thing about the convergence of their friend group was the random sleepovers they all had frequently. Before this entre _thing_ , Jake would have never considered spending the night at Jenna Rolan’s place. He never would have even considered the two of them _friends_. He couldn’t picture what he’d be doing in a parallel universe at this same time. Probably hooking up with someone he didn’t give a shit about or bullying some unknown freshman. Either way, he’d be a shittier person than he was _now_.

As he snuggled into the blanket Jenna had given him, he wondered why past-him had never given her a chance. She was awesome! She got all of his lame jokes somehow, which was honestly the bare minimum for friendship for him. She wasn’t afraid to call him out on his stupid ideas- something Rich never managed somehow. He always got suspiciously quiet whenever he was ranting about his next ‘genius’ idea. He’d have to ask him about that sometime.

“Don’t get too comfy, Dillinger, we’re here for a reason.” Jenna said, grabbing her mug of hot chocolate from off the side table and sinking down further into her bed.

“I don’t think I’m the one you need to worry about.” He pointed out, gesturing toward where she was attempting to sip the drink without spilling it all over. “If you don’t stop, you’re gonna spill the entire thing on yourself. And I, for one, really don’t want to go to the ER for a burn from _hot chocolate_.”

She made a disgruntled sound and sat up straighter. “Fair.” She flailed a bit before Jake took pity and got up to take the drink from her. After he set it down, she smiled. “Thanks. Now, onto our predicament.”

He frowned. “You make it sound like we’re the ones with the problem.” 

“It _is_ our problem, Jake. It’s affecting the entire friend group and it ends tonight-” She slammed her fist onto the bed for emphasis, which didn’t do much since it made no sound.

“Tonight?” He interrupted. “They aren’t even here right now.”

She rolled her eyes. “Obviously, I didn’t mean _tonight_ tonight. I’m being dramatic. Anyways, we need to figure out what’s going on.”

“Well, it’s only been a few days since the workshop incident, I’m sure we can glean some clues from that.” He reached behind him and pulled out a notebook and a pen. Inside, there were at least four pages of notes on things he had noticed going on. To be fair, though, he was sure half the details were wrong.

“You are taking this detective thing way too seriously.”

“Shut up, I’m detecting.”

Jake brought up each point from his notebook, the majority of which Jenna shot down immediately for having some sort of error-

_(”Who the hell is Erica?” She asked, stabbing the page with her own pen._

_“Uh, someone I know probably?” He answered uneasily, gently taking his notebook back. There was already a messy tear in the page from her vicious stabbing._

_“Jake, no one in our school is named_ Erica. _How could this mystery person have appeared for one day to only join us for lunch?” She asked, tapping her fingers on the bed impatiently._

_He shrugged helplessly. “Who knows?”_

_She groaned and fell back against the bed dramatically. “You are_ so _useless.”)_

-The bottom line was, his notebook was essentially useless. Maybe he should’ve written things in them _immediately_ after they happened. Now, they only had their one time encounter with the two to guess what was up.

“Okay, so, we know they snuck off during rehearsal.” She began, tapping her pen on a new notebook he grabbed for her. “Despite knowing Chris and Mr. Reyes would probably kill them. _Especially_ Michael, since he’s the only tech guy who actually knows what he’s doing.”

He hummed and fiddled with the torn edges of _his own_ now useless notebook. “And Jeremy is the lead, who can’t miss out on a lot since he’s in, like, everything.”

“And there’s no way they could’ve missed the ten minute long speeches Reyes gives about not missing practice. I swear I saw Jeremy take notes one time.” She paused in her tapping. “Maybe someone made them leave?”

“No one wants to jeopardize the show, Jen. They weren’t blackmailed into leaving.” He reasoned, leaning back against the wall. “Maybe it has something to do with how awkward they’ve been around each other recently?”

“Maybe. Are they mad at each other?” She asked, pen poised over the paper to write.

“I mean, did you see how hard Michael shoved Jeremy off the couch? It sounded like it hurt.”

“It did.” She added, rubbing her thigh, where he presumed his skinny ass landed.

“And, like, he practically stormed out of the room.” _Before he came back and, quite gently, helped Jeremy up._ He didn’t want to ruin their current theory, so he kept that bit out of the picture. Hopefully it wouldn’t come back to bite him. “And, last week, before you pulled me away, they looked reluctant to even be there.”

“Yeah, you’re right. So, top theory: they’re mad at each other. For what, though? I’ve never seen them get in a fight, besides the whole… SQUIP thing.” She added somberly. No one wanted to discuss that thing.

“I doubt it’s anything _that_ serious. Maybe they’re arguing over something stupid?”

“I wouldn’t put it past them.”

They continued to pass theories back and forth. When Jenna brought up the _brilliant_ concept of Jeremy being an alien, he decided to call it a night. When he went to pick up the old mug off of her nightstand, she grabbed his arm, blinking slowly. She was going to pass out any second.

“Hey… what if they’re dating? Wouldn’t that be wild?” She asked, her grip loosening by the second. 

He chuckled quietly and gently took her hand off his arm. “Pretty wild, yeah. They would tell us, though.” He was completely confident in that. Even if they were dating, why hide it?

He took his end of the bed and, despite being tired out of his mind, he couldn’t fall asleep. He kept going over sleepy-Jenna’s revelation. What if they _were_ dating? Secretly.

He couldn’t ignore the doubt buzzing in his mind. Maybe they were both wrong? There was no reason for the two of them to be fighting.

He knew he wouldn’t solve either before he passed out. Hopefully, his brain would puzzle it out for him. It had been (mostly) dependable throughout his life. Maybe it would be (almost entirely) dependable now.

 

 

Was there a service to give your own brain a gift? Because Jake was ready to shower that bitch in a million of them. Who knew sleep would unlock all the secrets of the universe? Well, if the _secrets of the universe_ were the Michael and Jeremy problem, then, yes, his brain figured out every secret.

He shot up from the bed and turned to Jenna, shaking her awake. After about half a minute, she finally responded by slapping his hand away and turning over. He frowned and shook her harder, practically shoving her off the bed. ‘Practically’ didn’t really cut it anymore when he _actually_ shoved her off the bed.

_”Jake!”_ She yelled as she hit the floor. He sat there stunned for a moment before he busted out laughing. “Don’t laugh! That hurt, you bitch.”

“I-I’m sorry-” He tried to apologize, but nothing sounded sincere if you were laughing it. “I didn’t think you’d actually fall off the bed.”

“Have you _seen_ your arms? Of course I was going to fall off.” She dragged herself back up and leaned onto the bed. “So, _why_ did you drag me out of a fantastic dream?” 

He was tempted to ask what exactly was fantastic about it, but he decided his revelation was slightly more important. “Jeremy and Michael aren’t mad at each other.”

“What?” She asked, pulling herself up a bit more. She scrambled for purchase and latched onto his leg. “Explain.”

“I know we said that was the likeliest option, but it doesn’t make any sense. They have _nothing_ to be mad about.” He explained as he helped her back onto the bed. She gave him a skeptical look and he sighed. “They’re dating.”

“ _Dating?_ Jeremy and Michael? Awkward extraordinaires?” She asked, leaning closer to him with each word until she was right in his face.

“Surprisingly.” He said shortly.

“I can’t fucking believe this.” She fell back onto the mattress. “How did we not see it sooner? The workshop was a dead giveaway.”

“Maybe we didn’t expect them to get their shit together first.” He reasoned, falling back onto the mattress to join her. “I mean, would you have bet on it?”

“No.” She answered immediately. She paused and he could almost picture the purse of her lips. “Okay, that makes me feel bad.”

“It’s not like we don’t have faith in them. It’s just… unexpected.” He couldn’t fight back the shame he felt either. Did they _really_ have that little faith in them? “Fuck, I feel bad, too.”

She hummed and grabbed his hand, squeezing it. “We’ll make it up to them.”

“Jen, that’s a nice thought, but they don’t know that we know and they’d be weirded out if we suddenly started upping up the nice factor.” Despite his doubt, he squeezed back. “We can just… _pretend_ like we don’t know.”

“Too suspicious. Michael’s smart enough to see through anything we say, and Jeremy is too in tune with everyone’s ticks. We might just have to tell them.”

“Okay, sure, but obviously they didn’t want anyone to know. Since they, you know, hid it from us?”

She squeezed his hand again when he began fiddling with hers. “They weren’t exactly being discreet, they can’t get mad at us for finally figuring out something that is stupidly obvious.”

“Yeah?” He was ashamed at how high his voice got. He didn’t want to be freaking out over this, but. Oh, well.

She gave him a look that fell somewhere between sympathy and pity, and he _really_ didn’t like it. He didn’t need pity from anyone, _especially_ his friends. He got enough of that from his own family when his parents disappeared.

Jake snapped himself out of his own spiral and sat up. “It’ll be fine.” His voice didn’t lose _all_ of its shakiness.

Jenna shot him an uneasy look. “Yeah, it will. Maybe we should just go back to sleep. It’s like… seven.” At his raised eyebrow, she sighed. “We fell asleep after midnight. Take a nap and we’ll solve this issue on Monday.” When he made no move to lay back down, she shoved him back onto the bed. “Either you close your eyes and fall asleep, or I physically lay on top of you so you can’t move _until_ you fall asleep.”

Grumbling, he settled back into the bed and blanket. He knew she wouldn’t let him do anything about this until Monday. So. There was no point making her angry at him or for him to get angry at her. They were in this together and would deal with the consequences together.

Though, he wasn’t exactly sure _what_ kind of consequences there would be. Jenna was right, Michael and Jeremy were being pretty obvious. ( _Hindsight bias, we meet again._ )

Everything would be fine.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!!! <3 <3 hope y'all enjoyed and I hope moogs and jamie died (rip them). also I might do a bonus chapter so!! watch out for that!!
> 
> if you guys wanna yell at me, my tumblr is @cuddlehoe


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